So how is it that our Founders chose a “Republic” over a “Democracy”? Let’s take a look at some of their explanations:
“Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have, in general, been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths”. James Madison [The Federalist on the New Constitution, Philadelphia, 1818, pg.53]
“Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet th! at did not commit suicide”. John Adams [The Works of John Adams, vol.6, ed. Charles Francis Adams, Boston, 1850, pg. 484]
“A democracy is a volcano, which conceals the fiery material of its own destruction. These will produce an eruption, and carry desolation in their way”. Fisher Ames, Framer of the Bill of Rights [The Works of Fisher Ames, Compiled by a Number of His Friend, Boston, 1809, pg. 24]
A democracy is not only a very bad form of government, as explained by John Adams, it often leads downward to even worse forms : “Democracy will soon degenerate into anarchy, such an anarchy that every man will do what is right in his own eyes, and no man’s life or property or reputation or liberty will be secure and every one of these will soon mold itself into a system of subordination of all moral virtues and intellectual abilities, all the powers of wealth, beauty, wit, and science, to the wanton pleasures, the capricious will, and the execrable {abominable} of one or a very few”. [The Papers of John Adams, vol.1, Cambridge, Belknap Press, 1977, pg. 83]
America’s Founders had chosen to follow the example of ancient Israel as explained in Exodus 18:21 : Choosing its own leaders, but only after having first established a fixed framework of higher laws to govern the nation and its leaders. Our documents then established that the primary purpose of American government was first and foremost to secure every individual the open practice of his God-given rights…rights of life, liberty, property, self-defense, religious worship, right to increase one’s wealth, justice in legal proceedings, freedom of association, and freedom of movement. These inalienable rights are never subject to a vote. What was established was ‘limited government’.
Our Founders gave this nation…”ship of state”…a valid set of ‘charts’ to keep us out of ‘shoal waters’. Somehow, along the way we discarded these ‘charts’ for a set of charts that were either unproven or known to be bad, but nonetheless our ‘captains’ pulled them out, set a course for destruction, turned the ‘bridge’ over to a clueless nav crew, and went to bed. In addition to the need for a competent ‘captain’…president…we need a qualified navigation team…congress. When we get off course…ignore our foundation principles…the bridge crew must speak up. If not ‘shoal waters’ become the ultimate destination.
Next week we will start to take a ! look at how silence by our ‘bridge crew’…president, congress and supreme court…has lead us into dangerous ‘shoal waters’ and how no one on the bridge is willing to take responsibility or corrective action.
– Bob Munsey
Something to contemplate : When a political party ‘courts’ voters with free ‘stuff’ we, those who know how government works, know that this in reality can not be. Nothing is free. What the government gives free and unearned it must take from others. When a government is $19 Trillion+ … that’s with a “T”…in debt it must look for a source to pay for these ‘freebees’. Printing more money is one way. Increasing taxes is another. These sources can be politically limited, though. Where to go for more taxes? A prime target could very well be the ‘untaxed churches’. There’s a whole wealth of potential in such taxes. Constitutional? No! Are there politicians who do not care? Yes! Politics don’t belong in the realm of the church? Think about it.
Geezer Politics 